Bold adventure in the Highlands is just braw

Columnist and film writer

Thursday 2 August 2012

Brave (PG)

GIRL POWER: Strong-willed Princess Merida learns the price of defying her parents as well as tradition in Pixar's visually stunning family blockbuster, which has a feminist message for young viewers.

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Brave has heart, humour and an inspiring heroine, says Alison Rowat

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Dirs: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman

Voices: Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson

Running time: 100 minutes

IT hardly takes a brave soul to make a memorable film set in Scotland. This corner of the universe has done well by cinema, whether the audience is in the market for mystical whimsy (Brigadoon) or filthy toilets (Trainspotting). So when it was announced that Pixar, the animation dream-weavers responsible for Toy Story and Finding Nemo, were setting their latest tale here, it was a fair bet they wouldn't come up with something shabby.

True to form, they have gone miles better. It is no surprise that Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman's picture should be so visually ravishing. Pixar, after all, is to animation what Danny Boyle is to Olympic opening ceremonies. Nor should one's flabber be gasted that Brave is funny and moving and thrilling and delightfully daft, sometimes all in the space of just one scene. All ages will laugh, greet and elbow each other in the ribs just to make sure jokes haven't been missed. When it's Pixar, though, the audience looks for a little more, a bit of an edge. What marks Brave out as exceptional is its boldness. It might not have the most sophisticated story ever to come from the studio, but in the best traditions of classic animation Brave has something big to say, to girls especially. It has taken more than a wee while for Pixar to create its first heroine, but Merida the Highland princess more than makes up for lost time. Kelly Macdonald, the voice of Merida, is among a broth of Scottish stars in a cast that stretches from Billy Connolly (playing Merida's father, King Fergus) to Craig Ferguson (a laird). In another example of the filmmakers' boldness, these authentic Scottish voices say things that are distinctly Scottish, like "tattie-bogle" and "jings". Can't wait to see what the subtitlers in Russia and South Korea make of that lot.When we first meet her, the flame-haired, Rebekah Brooks-lookalike Merida (don't worry people, it passes) is having the time of her young life. With Angus, her trusty Clydesdale, she roams free and wild in her olde worldy Highland kingdom. While the exact date is shrouded in the mists of time (let's call it somewhere between Bannockburn and Taggart), the teeth of the main characters are 21st-century America. Merida is about to find out the good times can't roll forever. Tradition decrees that she put away childish things and be married. Embracing the concept as she would a rattlesnake, Merida is determined she will choose her own destiny. But there is a price to be paid for rebelling against convention and Merida duly learns what it is. In story terms, Brave is a simple, soup-to-nuts affair. There is none of the unearthly strangeness of Wall.E, or the layers upon layers to be found in Toy Story. While this might be a disappointment for some Pixar fans, the story's muscular style fits the knockabout tone of the piece. Sometimes, especially when it comes to family films, straightforward is just what is required. Those looking for sophistication will find it in the drama, and particularly in the relationship between Merida and her mother Elinor (played by Emma Thompson). Here is the mother-daughter bond red in tooth and claw, with arguments between the anxious Elinor and the rebellious Merida that take the breath away. Harsh words are spoken, all in the name of love, as Elinor tries to convince her daughter that she must abide by the rules society has set for girls. Yes, those clever folks at Pixar have only gone and sneaked feminism into a family blockbuster film. OK, so we're talking early Jackie magazines rather than Germaine Greer, but it's there. And no matter, really, if the film is otherwise deeply traditional in its take on the family. In floating the idea that girls should have as much right to go their own way in life as boys, Pixar gives the glass ceiling a gentle bash with a candy-coloured hammer. As for the rest of the colour spectrum, it is all here as Andrews and Chapman depict Scotland as paradise found on Earth. The Scottish hillsides are alive with the purples and blues of heather, the mountains are golden obelisks over which eagles soar, and the rivers run azure. It is endlessly bewitching.You can see why VisitScotland have piggybacked a tourism campaign on the back of the film and why a certain political party are hoping it will have a Braveheart effect on voters. All that is for another day. For now, enjoy the sheer beauty on screen, feast on the songs by Julie Fowlis, laugh at the slapstick, smile at the clever lines and, yes, feel a lump in the throat and a quickening of the pulse as the drama takes hold. This is a brave, bold, gorgeous movie. Or as we say around these parts, gaun yersel Pixar.

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